


Neighborhood Ghost Hunters

by RigatoniWithCheese



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Childhood Friends, Gen, Ghost Hunting AU, Ghosts, ghost au, kid AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-19
Updated: 2020-01-19
Packaged: 2021-02-27 16:01:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22319809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RigatoniWithCheese/pseuds/RigatoniWithCheese
Summary: Written for the Winter Fandom Games!When fourth-graders Percy, Annabeth, and Grover stumble across a haunted house in the woods, they realize that they're going to need some help to solve the mysteries within. Enter the Neighborhood Ghost Hunter Club, made up of the neighborhood children and some special guests. But are the ghosts in the house as dangerous as they seem?
Comments: 1
Kudos: 12





	Neighborhood Ghost Hunters

“Tag! You’re it, Annabeth! I got you!”

“Get back here Seaweed Brain! You know I’m faster than you!”

The two children ran around Percy’s backyard, weaving around furniture and toys. Their friend Grover watched from the deck, sipping on a Capri Sun. “Yeah! Go Annabeth! Get him!” he shouted. Percy stopped in front of him, frowning.

“Grover, you’re supposed to be my best friend! Don’t cheer for Ann--AHHHH!” Percy screamed, sprinting away from where Annabeth had nearly grabbed him. He ran towards the back of the yard and squeezed through a hole in the fence, running off into the woods behind his property. Annabeth stopped at the fence, groaning.

“That’s not fair! We’re supposed to stay in the yard!” she yelled, before squeezing through herself and chasing after him.

Grover stood up and hobbled down the stairs, moving as quickly as he could toward the fence. “Hey! Guys, don’t leave me! Wait up!” He pushed his way through the fence and followed the two other children into the darkness of the trees.

********************

Percy raced through the forest, weaving between trunks and ducking under branches. He heard footsteps behind him, so he quickly turned to the left and sprinted towards a thick patch of trees. He pushed between them but tripped, screaming as he flew forward and landed sprawled out on the ground several feet away.

“Ouch,” he groaned, pushing himself up onto his knees. Blinking, he looked at his surroundings and gasped. In front of him stood a large, decrepit house. It was two stories and was made of a dark, rotting wood. The front porch no longer had steps, and several floorboards were either broken or missing altogether. Most of the windows were broken, and there was no door. Percy stood up and slowly crept toward the creepy old building.

“Percy? Are you okay? I heard you scream! Did you trip?” Annabeth asked as she ran up behind him, quickly stopping when she saw the house. “Woah… I had no idea this was out here.”

Percy turned back toward her and grinned. “Wanna go inside?” he asked.

Annabeth’s gray eyes shimmered with excitement. “Obviously.”

The two children climbed up onto the porch and entered the building, making sure they didn’t fall between the broken floorboards. Percy walked over to a doorway and peeked inside. He beckoned Annabeth to come towards him.

“Look!” he said, pointing to the floor.

The large rug that had once decorated the room had been pushed to the side, and a strange chalk symbol was drawn onto the wooden floor. Five half-melted candles were placed around the chalk symbol, each one lining up with one of the points of the star in the symbol. As the children watched, the candles suddenly lit one by one. Percy jumped back and grabbed Annabeth.

“I think... we should leave,” he whispered, pulling her back towards the door.

Before Annabeth could respond, a cold wind blew through the room. “Get… out…” a voice moaned.

Annabeth’s eyes widened. “What?” she exclaimed, looking around wildly.

“Get… OUT!” the voice shouted.

The children sprinted out of the house, nearly tripping over themselves as they raced through the trees. They saw Grover up ahead and grabbed him before he could say anything, pulling him back toward Percy’s house.

“Hey! What’s going on!” he shouted, struggling to keep up with his terrified friends.

Finally, they reached the fence and emerged back into the safety of Percy’s backyard. Percy fell onto the ground, panting, as Annabeth clutched at a cramp in her side. Grover looked back and forth between them, concerned.

“I think… we might need some help…” Annabeth said.

********************

“The first meeting of the Neighborhood Ghost Hunter Club has begun!” Percy shouted, clapping his hands.

The band of other children looked around at each other, somewhat confused. Frank put his hand up nervously. “Uhh, Percy? Where are the ghosts? I don’t think your house is old enough to be haunted,” he said. Piper and Leo nodded.

Percy groaned. “Not at my house! In the spooky one in the woods! Annabeth and I were there yesterday, and it tried to kill us!” he exclaimed.

Piper gasped. “It tried to kill you? And you want us to help you find it again? No way! I don’t want to die!” she said, voice shaking slightly.

Percy rolled his eyes. “Ugh, you third-graders are such wimps,” he mumbled. The four eight year-olds stared back at him, offended.

“That’s not fair!” Jason protested. “We’re not--”

“It’s fine,” Annabeth interrupted. “You guys are fine. The real question is, Percy, why did you invite the Di Angelos?”

The two small children in question looked up from the corner. Bianca, a second-grader, smiled nervously. “We live next door, and besides, our dad likes this kinda stuff. Percy said there’d be ghosts, so Nico and I decided to come,” she explained.

Grover looked at the little girl sitting next to them. “And who’s that? I’ve never seen her before.”

Nico smiled. “That’s our sister. She has a different mom that she lives with. But she’s visiting this weekend so we brought her. Don’t worry, even though she’s five she’s not scared,” he said.

The girl nodded. “I’m Hazel. My mommy does stuff like this. Spooky magic things,” she giggled.

Percy nodded. “Okay. Let’s go. We have to get there before the ghost realizes we’re coming.”

The group of children stood up and started making their way outside. Bianca grabbed Percy’s arm. “Oh, by the way, we have to be home by two. Nico has a playdate with Will and he’ll be really upset if he misses it.”

Percy nodded, and the last few kids made their way outside.

********************

The house was exactly the way Annabeth and Percy had left it the day before. Rotting, musty, and dark. Hazel broke away from the group and ran inside, giggling. Nico chased after her, followed by Bianca and Jason. The rest of the group made their way into the house, and the whole club gathered in the room with the candles.

Piper looked at Percy. “So… now what?” she asked.

As if on cue, the candles lit up, filling the room with a dim light. The wind blew around the room, making the children shiver.

“You.. have… returned?” the voice asked. It laughed menacingly. “So… foolish.”

A white figure rose from the corner of the room, rushing towards the children. Everyone screamed as the candles suddenly blew out. Percy grabbed the ghost, pulling it onto the floor.

He stood up, holding a white sheet. On the ground lay a girl his age, with curly red hair and a mess of freckles. “Rachel?” he exclaimed.

Rachel sat up and pouted. “Ugh, you can’t let me have any fun, can you?” she groaned.

Annabeth stepped forward. “What are you doing here?” she asked.

“This is where I like to play. When I heard you guys yesterday, I decided to try and scare you. Then you came back today, so I did it again!” she explained.

Frank rolled his eyes. “Percy, this was dumb. I’m going home. I wanted to see a real ghost. Bye,” he said, leaving the house. One by one, the rest of the children followed. Rachel, Annabeth, and Percy were in the very back, laughing about Rachel’s prank.

As they left the house, none of them noticed the misty figure watching from the window, or how it disappeared into nothingness...


End file.
